RallyNorth.net

Sat, Mar 14, 2015 07:00 PM @ Londonderry

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Merrimack	13	8	10	13	44
Londonderry	6	10	16	17	49

Londonderry in semis for first time since '99

Sunday, March, 15 By Christopher Smith

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Cody Ball's steal and breakaway dunk with 3:02 remaining was rather cool and meaningful at the same time.

1). It put Londonderry up three points over Merrimack.

2). Ball was in the midst of a scoring frenzy after Merrimack's triangle-and-two defense held him without a single point until 3:58 remaining in the third period.

3). The dunk also was extra special being in front of the home crowd and on the same side of the court as the Lancers' rowdy student section.

"It's the first one at home so it feels nice," Ball said.

The other two dunks of his career came at Trinity and at Manchester Central.

Ball scored 15 of his team's final 26 points to lift top-seeded Londonderry 49-44 over ninth-seeded Merrimack in the Division 1 quarterfinals here at Londonderry High.

The Lancers advanced to Tuesday's semifinal against No. 4 Spaulding at UNH (7:30 p.m. start).

"I had a real rough first half so I had to trust my shot," Ball said. "I know stuff wasn't falling in the first half so if I keep shooting it will eventually go down."

Marc Corey (team-high 17-points) added about Ball, "He's shown it all year, when he gets hot he's one of the toughest players to guard in the state. I love playing with him."

When Ball struggled in the first half and early in the third, Corey kept the Lancers in the game. He scored 15 points before Ball's first point.

"He (Corey) was obviously hot in the first half," Ball said. "He basically led us so we were only down by five at half." Give him credit for that."

Corey added, "They put in a triangle-and-two just locking him (Ball) up. With that defense, it just gets shooters open. My shots weren't falling at first but you've just kind of got to shoot through it and eventually they start falling and we came out on top."

The Lancers didn't take their first lead until 35 seconds remained in the third quarter. Ball made a quick and pretty pass inside the paint to Brandon Radford who converted to put Londonderry ahead 32-31.

"We just didn't move the ball well (in the first half) to be honest," Ball said. "We were all stagnant. We didn't get good shots. And in the second half, we came out hot. We had to attack the rim more and get better shots basically."

Londonderry lost in last year's quarterfinal round, finishing the season at 17-6.

But with four returning starters, the Lancers breezed through their D1 schedule with an 18-0 regular season record and a 19-point average margin of victory against New Hampshire opponents.

Actually, Merrimack might have presented the toughest challenge for the Lancers all season.

Londonderry squeaked out a 52-51 win at Merrimack on Jan. 23 when Corey converted the go-ahead 3-pointer with 35 seconds left. The Lancers then won 56-48 at home against Merrimack on Feb. 10 behind Ball who averaged 19 points in those two regular season games.

"They (Merrimack) are a very well coached team," Corey said. "They put 110 percent effort every time they're on the court. They're a heck of a team to play against."